LASHKAR GAH, AFGHANISTAN – APRIL 01: (FILE IMAGE) U.S. Army Col. Paul Calbos walks through an opium poppy field on April 1, 2006 near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. European cities risk higher numbers of heroin overdoses as Afghanistan’s record opium poppy crop floods cities with the drug, the UN has warned. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

While we try to get rid of crabgrass in America in parts of Africa crabgrass (fonio) is a staple grain, and as forage it can produce a whopping 17 tons per acre.

Crabgrass can grow on bowling balls in airless rooms, and there is no known way to kill it that does not involve nuclear weapons. ~Dave Barry

We can in fact only define a weed, mutatis mutandis, in terms of the well-known definition of dirt – as matter out of place. What we call a weed is in fact merely a plant growing where we do not want it. ~E.J. Salisbury, The Living Garden, 1935

“What a child is doing when he puts things in his mouth is allowing his immune response to explore his environment,” Mary Ruebush, a microbiology and immunology instructor, wrote in her new book, “Why Dirt Is Good” (Kaplan). “Not only does this allow for ‘practice’ of immune responses, which will be necessary for protection, but it also plays a critical role in teaching the immature immune response what is best ignored.”

Soil contains microorganisms, decaying organic matter, earthworms and other insects. Soil is a living environment. The earthworms and insects aerate the soil and add to the organic matter of the soil through their waste and when their bodies decay.

Dirt is basically dead soil. It does not contain any of the above. You can add organic matter (compost) to dirt to revitalize it. The organic matter will provide food for beneficial microorganisms so that the ecological system can start to regenerate.

“If a healthy soil is full of death, it is also full of life: worms, fungi, microorganisms of all kinds … Given only the health of the soil, nothing that dies is dead for very long.”
– Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America, 1977

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.”
– James Oppenheim

“If I wanted to have a happy garden, I must ally myself with my soil; study and help it to the utmost, untiringly. Always, the soil must come first.”
– Marion Cran, If I Where Beginning Again

Decayed leaves create what is called leaf mulch.The structure we used to know as a leaf breaks down into a loose lace-like texture that eventually decomposes quickly into the soil. Leaf mulch in bare soil will be pulled down into the soil by earthworms: it is their favorite food!

Below is my final assignment for Angie Goodloe’s Herbalist 101 course. Be warned, it’s lengthy! But there’s a surprise at the end. If you have any interest in herbalism, I highly recommend Angie’s course. It’s full of information, provides plenty of opportunity for you to get intimate with herbs and make those medicines. And Angie provides plenty of feedback and encouragement in her responses to the assignments. Fun stuff!

Also, Angie is currently offering the course at an absurdly low price ($35!). I assure you, the course is worth far, far more than that!

California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

Alternate names: Copa de ora, Dormidera (the Drowsy One, since this ‘sun-worshipping flower’ closes its blooms at night)

Family: Papaveraceae

Patterns of the Poppy family are showy flowers with 2-3 sepals that shed early, petals in multiples of four, lots of stamens. They often have milky sap in their stems. Many plants in this family contain narcotic alkaloids. Narcotics depress the central nervous system, sedating and offering relief from the feeling of pain (analgesic). [I’m noting Family characteristics in anticipation of work I’m doing with the Kamana Naturalist Training Program. Currently in that program I’m journaling Plants, which will soon include detailing all the native plant families of my area.]

With that “Family background” in mind, let’s explore this beautiful herb …

The state flower of California, California Poppy is aptly chosen for this honor. For countless generations the native peoples of California carefully cultivated this plant–as they did with many others–for food and medicine in monocropped expanses on hillside and in valleys. European settlers thought they had arrived in untouched wilderness. Not so. The native peoples practiced sustainable harvesting and sowing that involved controlled burns as part of their land management.

It is said that north of Pasadena early Spanish sailors guided by a golden hillside in spring — a hillside shining with the bright orange-gold of the California Poppy. It is also said that this was one reason they dubbed this coast “the Land of Fire” (the other reason being that there were indeed fires a-plenty due to lightning strikes as well as due to the dry, arid summers).

The Yuki tribe used it for toothaches, it was food for the Sierra Miwoks, the Ohlone used it for sleep, the Wintu used it to heal newborn baby belly buttons

The Nisenan ate the leaves either boiled or roasted with hot stones and then laid in water. The Pomo mashed the seedpod or a decoction of it on a nursing mother’s breast to dry up her milk. And the plant was given to babies as a sedative and placed under the bed for better sleep. Other tribes rubbed a decoction of the flowers into the hair to kill lice. The root juice was taken to relieve stomachaches and tuberculosis, and as a wash for weeping sores.

The plant itself: is a perennial or annual (further north) to 2 ft. tall with mostly basal with bluish-green lacelike leaves. When I lived in the Pacific Northwest, the plant was an annual. Here in my backyard in the San Francisco Bay Area, the plant is definitely a perennial. The plant in these photographs is one that has been thriving since our arrival here last June.

The flowers sit atop a flattened rim on long stalks. The flowers are of four shiny petals bright orange to yellow in color, sepals fused into cap, and falling off when it flowers. Many stamens. The fruit is long and slender, containing many black seeds. It’s so satisfying to collect the seeds! Just pluck off the dried pods and pop them into an envelope. The plant flowers from February through November.

The plant is found in grasslands, hillsides, and open areas, in well-drained and poor soil, from Southern California up through Washington.

In terms of modern-day herbalism California Poppy has these characteristics.

Dose: rounded teaspoon of chopped plant as tea, drink 1-3 times daily; fresh plant tincture: 20-60 drops 1-4 times daily. For sleep problems, take 20-40 drops one hour before sleep, then again right before bedtime. For bedwetting in children over 5 years old, use with horsetail, 10 drops of each twice/day.

A mild sedative and analgesic, this plant is suitable even for children, though may cause a mild ‘hangover’ headache the next morning if used in excessive quantities. Lesley Tierra writes: “California poppy wonderfully sedates, calms and relaxes the nervous system, treating symptoms of anxiety, nervous tension and agitation. As well, it repairs nerves and alleviates nerve pain, especially from sciatica, herpes and shingles. It is also used for heart palpitations and insomnia due to nervousness.

Contraindications: large amounts used sometimes cause nausia. Better not to use it during pregnancy.

Collecting: Gather the whole above ground plant and dry it. Or tincture the whole fresh plant. When I tinctured California Poppy in the past, I used the whole plant, including

Coca leaf is rich in beneficial antioxidants, including ones that help to protect the integrity of blood vessels.coca leaf, which is used as a flavoring ingredient in Coca-Cola.

Nutrition Benefits of the Coca Leaf

The coca leaf has been found to be a valuable dietary supplement. Several studies analyzed the nutrition characteristics of the coca leaf. Two notable ones include, a 2009 study published in the Food & Nutrition Bulletin (Can coca leaves contribute to improving the nutritional status of the Andean population?, Penny, Zavaleta, et al.) and a1975 Harvard study (Nutritional Value of Coca Leaf, Duke, Aulick, Plowman). They found that per 100g the leaves contained:

the Incas domesticated this plant, tells the story of the Inca army made an extract of the leaf and chewing (to a bolus of leaves in the buccal mucosa) and extracted the juice from the leaf to mitigate the cold, hunger and fatigue, so the coca leaf was a vital element in the survival Inca